After the Fracture
by banditBlue2
Summary: While escaping Division 3 with Lenny in tow, David decides to grab one more passenger: Cary Loudermilk. Kerry and Cary deal with being separated. Lenny hallucinates disembodied Jon Hamm monologues. David and his powers are out of control, and the only person who can get close enough to stop him is Syd.
1. After the Fight

Cary wasn't sure where to go.

Kerry was headed to the frontlines, like always. He was supposed to stay behind, somewhere safe, like always. Everyone else seemed to know exactly where they were going. Commandos with guns stomped around in their jackboots, searching for their missing psychic.

The forcefield should have contained David. Should have blocked his powers. But he was more powerful than they had ever imagined. David was uncontainable.

And suddenly, David was right in front of him.

David cocked his head to the side and leaned forward, studying Cary like he was a naughty boy caught trying to peek up a schoolgirl's skirt.

Cary stared back in frozen terror. "Please, I'm sorry about what happened. We were just trying to help you." Cary awkwardly backed away, but David stepped closer.

"By locking me inside a cage? Did you really believe I couldn't crack that like an egg shell?" David asked angrily.

Lenny giggled at the analogy. "Egg shell," she echoed.

Cary hadn't even noticed she was there. He glanced over at her briefly in confusion before looking back at David.

"But don't worry," David said gently. "I'm not mad. It's nice. To be free."

David stroked his hand lightly down the arm of Cary's dark blue dress shirt. Cary was too scared to pull away from his touch.

"Free from all the restraints that have been holding me back," David continued. "Free from colleagues, free from friends. Free from love. I'm leaving, but I'm not leaving alone."

"He's bringing me along for the ride!" Lenny piped up.

"But we need one more," said David. That was news to Lenny. She looked at him in confusion.

"I don't know where Syd is," Cary stammered.

"Who said anything about Syd?" David was grinning, but there was darkness in his eyes.

"Freeze! Don't move!" The commandos had found them and were advancing from both ends of the curved hallway. They opened fire.

But the bullets just vanished in the shimmering air that surrounded them. With a sudden loud crack, the hallway was empty, and the commandos were pointing guns at each other. The forcefield which contained the little threesome faded away.

They were gone.


	2. After the Shackles

Cary sat in a room surrounded by water.

Each wall wasn't really a wall. It was an artificial waterfall which hung down like a curtain. The falling water gave the whole room a glowy blue tint.

Kerry would have said it was a good place for a fight.

High above him, there were frosted skylights, but he couldn't see anything outside them. He had no idea where they were. Or if this was even the real world; maybe he was trapped deep in David's mind.

Oliver had lived in a giant ice cube in the astral plane. Maybe this was David's version of that.

Vague dark shapes moved behind the curtains of water, but the rippling surface distorted everything. Maybe the shadows were real, or maybe he was imagining them because he had been separated from Kerry for so long.

Suddenly, the waterfall on the wall in front of Cary parted in an inverted V. The water kept flowing down, but off to either side.

In the center of the V stood Lenny, smirking at the cool doorway and waltzing into the room without getting wet. The 'door' closed behind her, and she turned her attention to him.

"Don't get up," she said with a grin.

Cary shifted uncomfortably against the chains which held him to the chair.

"So, I keep wondering. Have you ever, you know," Lenny mimed a tugging gesture with her fist, "spanked the monkey wrench, while she was inside you? Did she feel what you felt?"

Cary just looked away, trying to ignore her.

"Or, do you and your lady half, you know, ever do it?" Lenny thrust her hips suggestively.

Cary tried to ignore her, but that just made her come closer. He pointed out, "No, it's not like that. We're the same person."

Lenny stepped forward until she was standing right in front of him. Her breasts were spilling out of her tight green tank top. "But if you did, would it be masturbation? Or incest. Or...self...cest? I don't know what to call it."

Cary knew he needed an ally here, and David wasn't very stable at the moment. He decided to satisfy her curiosity. "When we feel the … urge … we separate and go to different rooms. That's one of the only things we don't do together."

"What about with other people?" Lenny asked eagerly. She draped her arm across his shoulder. "Because, usually guys like girls and girls like guys. So which way do you swing?"

"I like girls," Cary explained tersely.

Lenny tilted her head, desperate for details.

"In college. Kerry was too young, so we would separate. Uh, I tried kissing, with a girl I met in class." He shifted uncomfortably, as much as he could in his restraints. "But it always felt wrong, being so close to someone without combining with her and having her disappear into me."

Cary had never told anyone this. He was usually very private, but he needed to escape and get back to Kerry, and he needed help if he was going to escape.

"What about you?" Cary asked. Trying to lure her away from this subject.

But Lenny didn't bite. She began to rub his chest, slipping her hand underneath his waistcoat. "Wait, so you've never done anything beyond kissing with another person?"

Cary tried another distraction. "Did you experiment with anything when you were a teenager? It's a good time to explore things, like sex, drugs, rock'n'roll. Or, interpretive dance … uh, abstract algebra?"

Lenny's hand slipped down his chest and rested on his belt buckle. "So, you're a virgin? I've never banged a virg before!"

Cary tried to pull his legs together, but his ankles were chained to the chair legs. He wished desperately that David was there.

And suddenly, David was there. Cary wasn't sure if he teleported, or if he had just been too distracted by this unwanted physical contact.

"Lenny," David said in a warning voice.

"Come on, there's nothing fun to do here!" Lenny pouted.

She spun around and sat on Cary's lap. Her ass was pressed against his thighs.

Lenny continued, "No board games, no alcohol. You said you'd get me Vapor if I was good. And he's having fun, too, just ask him." She patted Cary on the cheek to encourage him.

Cary nodded reluctantly. "I'm having fun," he lied.

David looked at him, knowing it was a lie. Then he looked back at Lenny wearily. He pointed his finger at her, "No pain, and don't touch him under his clothes. I'll know if you break the rules."

"Aye, aye, Captain!" Lenny saluted jauntily. "You can join in if you want."

David just looked at her sadly. "You have her eyes," he said. Then he was gone.

Lenny spun around in delight and wrapped her legs around Cary's midsection. She reached behind him to wrap her hands around his chained wrists and began to stroke up his arms and down his body with tantalizing slowness.

"So, do you have any hobbies?" Cary asked.

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Later, David came back and took the chains off, after making him promise not to run. Cary kept sitting in the chair and put his hands on his knees, keeping them in plain view.

"You see!" David spoke like he was addressing a class of precocious but rambunctious preschoolers. "When you behave, you get rewarded. Now we just have to get your other half on board, and we'll be riding smooth."

"Kerry?" Cary gasped desperately. "This is about Kerry?"

"Kerry _and_ Cary. I needed one of you with me and the other back at Division 3. To keep an eye on the rest of the team. I don't want them interfering with my plan."

David began to pace like a monologuing supervillain, but his endearing nervous tics were still there. He kept flicking his fingers randomly.

"You and Kerry are connected. I knew I needed one of you, but Kerry is a bit of a wildcat. Hard to control. But I knew _you_ would be on your best behavior. Good job, on that, so far, by the way." David stroked Carys hair gently.

Kerry stroked his hair like that when they were alone. It was always very affectionate and comforting, but it felt creepy coming from David right now.

"Sorry, I thought you would like that," David explained. "You always seemed to like it when Kerry did it to you."

Cary touched the back of his head self-consciously. He wondered, was David reading his mind?

"Yes, I'm reading your mind!" David said in exasperation. "Of course I'm reading your mind. I need to know if you're getting any feedback from Kerry."

Cary tried to push him out of his head, but David was suddenly looming over him. "Do you really think you can keep me out if I want in? If you try to resist, I'll break my way in. You'll be hurt and Kerry will be hurt too and I'll be inside your head no matter what."

David stroked his hair again. "So, don't fight it, okay?"

Cary nodded mutely.

"I'm making waffles for dinner. It'll be fun!" David swaggered off jauntily. The waterfall wall parted to let him pass, then it closed behind him, leaving Cary alone in the blue room.

He shivered.


	3. After Dinner

The face smiled up at Cary.

David had made them chocolate chip waffles. With smiley faces.

At the other end of the table, Lenny was chowing down like a starving feral child. She wasn't even using utensils.

David ignored her and addressed Cary. "So, any news from Kerry?"

"Wouldn't you know?" Cary asked.

"Not necessarily. I'm still learning how this whole … " David wobbled his head from side to side, "psychic thing works."

Cary draped a napkin neatly across his lap. He decided to be open and honest with David. No point in lying to a man who could read his mind. "Kerry and I aren't psychic."

David chewed thoughtfully on his waffle. "But when she was shot in the shoulder, you felt it."

"We're connected, but we can't communicate anything complex," Cary clarified. He rubbed his shoulder, remembering that horrible day when he had almost lost half his soul.

"Is there a way to amplify your connection? Like how the Amplification Chamber tank amped up my psychic power." David poured more syrup on his plate.

"No, with Kerry and me … " Cary huffed in frustration. It was so hard to put this into words. "It's more like an emotional bond. We share what we feel. But with you, you can connect with pretty much anyone. We just had to reduce the amount of sensory input and control your environment."

Cary cut his waffle carefully with a fork and knife. Lenny mimicked him and started using her cutlery. Or at least, she used her knife. She stabbed chunks of chocolate chip waffle, then pulled them off the end of the knife with her teeth.

Cary watched her and imagined that Kerry would eat waffles in a similar fashion. He hoped she was getting enough to eat.

David mused, "It felt like … like the water in the Amplification tank became, almost, an extension of my mind. Like it made me louder, and made it easier for me to reach out and touch other minds." He shook his head like he was shaking away cobwebs. "Does that make any sense?"

"Nothing makes any sense," Cary snapped. He was separated from himself, from Kerry. David was keeping them torn open, two halves of a wound which couldn't heal until they pressed together again. He felt lost at sea, adrift. Lopsided and incomplete.

David looked up at him sharply, so Cary back-tracked.

"We're in unexplored territory here. We don't know what your limits are or what the consequences are if you go too far," Cary explained.

"Well, there's only one way to map unexplored territory," David said with a slightly manic grin.

"Unexplored territory!" Lenny echoed. Then she poured syrup directly into her mouth.

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After dinner, they gathered in a room underneath the living room. The living room waterfall walls continued down to make the walls of this room, too.

The water from the waterfalls collected in a gutter which ran around the base of the walls. Each corner of the room had a trough which ran diagonally towards the center of the room where it drained into a square pool which was sunk into the floor.

David sat on the side of the pool, looking across it at Cary. Lenny sat to one side and a ceramic parrot sat on the other. David looked like a strange king, surrounded by his court.

David and Lenny had taken their shoes off and rolled up their pants, so they could sit with their feet in the water. Like they were soaking their feet on a hot summer day.

They both looked at Cary expectantly, so he followed suit and removed his shoes and neatly rolled up his pants. He sat on the only empty side of the pool, completing the square.

David glanced sideways at the ceramic parrot, which began to gurgle and smoke began to puff out of its mouth.

The bluish smoke spilled down onto the surface of the water and curled out in billowing swirls. David and Lenny closed their eyes and inhaled deeply as the smoke began to wash over them. David appeared to be meditating, and the water around his feet began to ripple in a standing wave.

Cary coughed as the smoke invaded his nasal passages. He squeezed his eyes shut as they began to tear up for the smoke. He felt the water in the pool rise up and soak into his pants. The water kept rising and a cold wave washed over him, knocking the breath out of him.

Then the unpleasant sensations faded. He felt like he was floating gently downstream. The surface of the water opened up and he sank down deeper, but he had no fear of drowning. He felt cradled in something soft and safe.

He opened his eyes, and he was sitting on a white bed with a white comforter in a pristine white room. On the other side of the room was Kerry.


	4. After the Echo

Cary sat in the middle of the white bed in the white room. He was leaning back against comfy white pillows.

David sat on one side of him and a barefoot Lenny was on the other. Cary tried to make himself as small as possible in between them. But shifting away just made Lenny scooch closer.

On the other side of the room was Kerry. Cary should have been relieved, but he wasn't.

She was chained to the opposite wall with a metal collar, and a metal muzzle covered her mouth like a cage. A thick metal bar was pressed into her mouth like a bit, preventing her from speaking. Her wrists were stretched out to either side, also chained to the wall.

She was tugging at her chains, growling and chewing at the metal muzzle. Some spittle sprayed out of her mouth.

David sprung to his feet and made his way over to the growling girl. Cary wanted to follow him, to get closer to Kerry, but Lenny had wrapped herself around his arm. David stood right in front of Kerry, clasped his hands behind his back, and leaned down so they were eye to eye.

Kerry strained forward, desperate to attack him, but she was already at the end of her leash.

"Calm down," David told her.

She didn't calm down. David looked back at Cary in exasperation. "Tell her to calm down."

"Calm down, Kerry," Cary recited.

Kerry calmed down. Or at least, she stopped growling.

David worked on taking her muzzle off. "There you go, isn't that better?" he said.

As soon as the muzzle was off, Kerry snapped at David's hand and tried to bite him. But David knew it was coming and had already gotten out of her reach. Kerry bared her teeth and snarled.

David waggled a finger in her face. "If you try that again, I won't punish you." He pointed back at Cary without looking. "I'll punish him."

Kerry's jaw closed with click. Her lips were pursed, but her eyes were still aflame.

Back on the bed, Lenny nibbled at Cary's ear. He did his best not to squirm. He knew it tore Kerry up inside to watch him suffer.

"Better." David made an expansive and welcoming gesture with his arms. "Now, let's all have a conversation about what we each want, and how we can all work together to accomplish those things."

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David sat in an overstuffed armchair, with Lenny perched on the armrest like a bird on his shoulder. She was digging her toes into the white shag rug.

Cary and Kerry sat on a small couch. Kerry's chains were gone, except for the collar which still tethered her to the wall. They were surprised David let them sit together, but they quickly realized they couldn't meld while in the astral plane.

They sat with their shoulders pressed against each other. Smushed together, as close as they could get. Like they were trapped on opposite sides of a mirror, but no matter how much they pressed against the glass, they couldn't combine into one body again.

"Now," said David. "What's Division Three up to?"

Kerry just glared at him.

David rolled his eyes in exasperation. Then he swatted the air like he was shooing a fly, and Cary yipped as his cheek was slapped telekinetically.

Kerry threw her arm protectively across his chest, trying to put herself between Cary and danger.

"You don't get it, do you?" David asked her condescendingly.

Lenny giggled darkly.

David leaned forward. "You can't protect him from me. I can do whatever I want to anybody!"

"Whatever he wants!" Lenny leaned forward, too.

David snapped his fingers, and Cary disappeared. He reappeared on the bed, clutching at the bloody stump where his leg used to be. Another version of him was pressed against the wall, clawing at his throat and struggling to breathe. Another version was flailing around as he was beaten up by an invisible attacker.

Kerry jumped to her feet and yowled like a wildcat. Her collar was the only thing keeping her from trying to tear David limb from limb.

David snapped his fingers again, and the Cary's vanished. A single Cary appeared right in front of Kerry, calmly holding a gun to his own head.

Kerry did a high kick to knock the gun out of his hand, but her foot passed right through the illusion. Another snap of David's fingers made the suicidal Cary disappear.

The Real Cary reappeared, sitting on the same spot on the couch, completely unharmed. He tapped Kerry on the arm. "I'm right here," he told her.

Kerry threw her arms around him, keeping her body between him and David. Cary hugged her back, but looked calmly over her shoulder at David.

"That's enough," he told David calmly. Then he looked down at Kerry. "We need to cooperate with him, at least right now."

Kerry looked up at him, then sat facing David again. "They're hunting for you," she told him. "Checking everywhere you've been, everywhere you might feel safe. Clockworks, Summerland, your childhood home, where Amy lived before … "

Kerry stole a glance at Lenny's new blue eyes. Her bright green shirt made her eyes pop even more. It was very creepy.

Kerry kept talking, not wanting to give David or Lenny an excuse to hurt Cary. "Melanie thinks you might be looking for allies. Other mutants. But Syd says you're just trying to feel in control."

"How does Syd...feel, about what I...How does she feel about me?" David asked, suddenly vulnerable.

Kerry didn't know what to say. She didn't want to lie to him, but she didn't want to upset him. Or maybe she did want to upset him. To make him feel what she felt when she saw Cary being hurt again and again.

Cary was watching her. "I don't think…" he started to say.

"Let her talk," David interrupted. He was staring at Kerry intently.

Lenny saw him staring, so she stared too.

"She hates your guts," blurted Kerry. "She trusted you, and you raped her, and she won't ever forgive you. You're out of the picture, bub!"

"Bub!" shouted Lenny.

David glanced up at her angrily.

"What? Come on, we don't need the Syd-bitch." Lenny threw her leg over the arm of the chair and rested her bare foot in his lap. "Just you and me, babe. Let's take on the world!"

David hooked his hand under her knee and threw her leg up in the air. She fell back onto the rug and landed on her ass. She jumped to her feet again, "Okay, nevermind! Geez louise." Then she sat back on the armrest again.

David ignored her and pulled a clear glass ball out of his pocket. He held in front of his face and looked at the Loudermilks though it. It inverted everything, so they looked like they were sitting on the ceiling.

David concentrated on the ball, and it slowly filled with a glowing white liquid, top to bottom. When it was completely full, he announced, "I have a plan."

He blew a puff of air and the ball began to float across to Kerry. She was suspicious, but she didn't move. The glowing ball passed through her forehead, and her eyes lit up with the same milky white light in the ball. She blinked, and her eyes went back to normal.

"Just follow the plan," David assured her. "And everything will be fine."

"Follow the plan," said Lenny quietly.

"You can go now." David waved his hand, and Kerry's collar vanished.

Cary put his hands on Kerry's shoulders and looked her in the eye. "Make sure to sleep when you need to. And make sure you're getting enough to eat and drink. You can't help anyone if you don't take care of yourself." Then he kissed her fiercely on the forehead.

She jumped to her feet and turned away quickly to hide her tears. She threw a final threat over her shoulder as she left: "If you hurt him, I'll kill you and your dumb pet parrot!"

She shoved the door open and found herself in the Division Three commissary. Dishes on tiny boats floated along in a line.

"New symptom alert: Repetitive sounds," a muffled announcement droned. "Repetitive sounds."


	5. After the Split

Lenny stood next to the square pool. David and Cary were gone, and the parrot didn't have any vapor left.

Lenny leaned forward, looking down into the blue waters. Her reflection stared back at her. She leaned farther down, and her boobs sloshed forward. Her cleavage looked amazing in this position.

She was totally bangable. Cary would have banged her earlier, if he wasn't such a straight. David would bang her, if she wasn't stuck in his sister's hot bod. She pulled the green tank top down farther, letting her boobs spill over the top.

She liked this shade of green. She didn't know why.

The constant flows of water into the pool from the water-walls made the surface disturbed and wrinkly. She stared at her reflection and blinked a few times, then realized the reflection was Amy.

"I had a sweater that color," said Amy.

Lenny practically fell into the pool. She threw out her arms to steady herself.

"It looks nice on you," Amy continued. "Especially now that you have my eyes."

Lenny grabbed the parrot vaporizer and lifted it above her head, prepared to throw it down into the pool and make Amy go away.

Amy giggled.

"What's so funny?" Lenny spat.

"David always liked parrots," she explained. "When we were little, he used to dress up like a pirate. He wanted me to be his parrot. To dress up like bird and repeat things."

Lenny put the parrot down. She was curious now.

Amy continued, "But I was a bad parrot. David told me to stop."

"Why were you a bad parrot?" Lenny asked, mesmerized by the story.

"I kept talking. Making up my own words. Coming up with new adventures," explained Amy with a sigh. "But I bet you're a good parrot."

Lenny cocked her head in confusion.

Amy explained, "You do as you're told. Repeat what they teach you to repeat. Dress up in pretty colors."

"I'm not a parrot," Lenny shouted.

"Why do you think these powerful psychics keep you around? You're so easy to manipulate. Every pirate captain needs a parrot, every witch needs a familiar." Amy's face was getting bigger in the pool.

Lenny pressed her hands over her ears and stormed away. But Amy's looming face was now on the water-wall in front of her.

Amy kept lecturing, "It makes them feel powerful to keep an animal trained and by their side. And they like having something to kick when they're mad."

"I'm just trying to live my life!" Lenny charged through the wall, making the water split right down Amy's face.

But now a full-sized mirage of Amy was standing in the doorway. "I was just trying to live my life, too. Cary and Kerry are just trying to live their life. They're a good person. Are you a good person?"

Lenny backed away, only to realize that Amy's reflection was on every wall.

"Are you a good person?" asked the right wall. "Are you a good person?" asked the left wall. "Are you a good person?" asked the back wall. "Are you a good person?" asked the pool. "Are you a good person?" asked Amy standing the doorway in a green cardigan covered with flowers.

"Shut up!" Lenny yelled, and she charged through the doorway, pushing through the mirage.

She bumped right into Cary. "Are you okay?" he asked with genuine concern.

Lenny looked around frantically, but Amy was gone. She breathed deep. "Yeah, I'm okay. I'm a good, I mean, I'm good."

She staggered off in confusion, and Cary stared after her.

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Kerry stared down at the passing dishes on boats, trying to convince herself to eat something. Each boat was pulling the next one along on a string. Like the toy boat Cary used to tug along with a string whenever it rained enough to fill up the gutter. He always kept an extra toy in his pocket, in case she came out of him and wanted to play, too.

A distant announcement repeated, "Beware of ideas that are not your own."

Someone plopped down on the other side of the table from her. She looked up glumly to see Syd staring back at her.

"Mind if I join you?" Syd asked.

Kerry numbly passed her an unopened cream soda. Syd glanced over at the line of empty soda bottles but said nothing.

"Drown your sorrows," Kerry said, before taking a long swig without tasting anything.

Syd nodded with understanding. They both sat there, watching the boats float by and nursing their cream sodas.

Syd sighed. "Before I met David, I wasn't a full person. I hadn't been a full person in a long time."

Kerry just listened. It was nice to listen to someone and not have to talk.

Syd said, "Then David came along. And he wasn't a full person either. We found each other, and we fit together. Two parts that were meant to combine."

They both took a swig of soda.

"I know what it's like to have another part of you," Syd continued. "A part that's separate, but that doesn't make it any less a part of you. And when it's separated from you, pulled away, you feel like you're not whole anymore. Like you'll never be whole again."

Syd reached across the river of food boats and rested her gloved hand on Kerry's arm. "We'll get Cary back. I don't think we'll ever get David again, and I don't think I even want him back. But we'll get Cary back."

Syd gave Kerry's arm a final squeeze, then they both went back to staring at boats. A plate of waffles floated in between them, then the boat in front of it tugged it along on a string.

"I saw him," Kerry blurted.

Syd just nodded. "In a dream?" she asked.

"No, in David's dream," Kerry explained. "Or David's mind. There was a white room. Everything was white. The walls, the carpet, even the bed was white."

Syd was staring at her now.

"He threatened to hurt Cary, and I couldn't stop him." Kerry angrily clenched her soda bottle. She wanted to squeeze it until it shattered.

"David put something in my head." Kerry tapped her forehead. "A plan. There's something he wants me to do.

"What does he want you to do?" Syd asked.

Kerry clenched her eyes shut, and tears squeezed out and ran down her cheeks. If she said one thing, Cary might die. If she said something else, other people might die.

"He wants me to kill Admiral Fukiyama. So no one can figure out where the temple is," Kerry said. "But I'm not going to do it. Cuz Cary told me not to."

The bottle in Kerry's hand shattered, and the glass cut her hand, but Syd didn't take her eyes off her.

"Cary added something to David's plan." Kerry rubbed her forehead, remembering Cary's kiss goodbye. "He told me how to stop him. He told me where David's temple is."

Syd jumped up, running to alert the others.

Kerry shoved the table, and the whole curving length of it flipped over. Water spilled out onto the floor, and the dishes of food shattered and scattered. The boats were flipped upside down, but the chain of strings was still intact. The line was still tugging them along, so the boats slid and jerked across the floor.

Still trying to do their job, even when everything else was broken.


	6. After the Analogy

Lenny stood in an empty white space. The parrot vaporizer was tucked under her arm.

 **"Our memories keep us safe,"** said a deep and disembodied voice.

"What?" Lenny asked. She turned around in confusion. A small swimming pool was in the white space with her.

 **"They remind us of past dangers, so we can avoid them in the future,"** continued the voice.

"That sounds like Jon Hamm," Lenny muttered to herself.

A young boy in a blue swimsuit stood next to the pool, gasping and coughing, like he had almost drowned. His father wrapped a towel around him and held him close.

 **"We learn a lesson,"** said the voice. **"The next time we see the same danger, we take precautions to stay safe."**

The boy was suddenly older. He swam in the pool, but this time, he wore water-wings and his father was watching over him.

 **"But did you know: it's possible to implant a false memory?"** asked the voice.

"I really think that's Jon Hamm," Lenny said.

 **"The human mind is infinitely creative. If you ask someone to imagine something, they can,"** said the voice.

The boy was younger again. His eyes were shut tight, and he was concentrating hard. Suddenly, he started coughing and gasping, like he was drowning.

The voice continued, **"If you ask them to remember, sometimes people remember what they imagined. And if someone they trust tells them the memory is real, they might believe it actually happened."**

The boy's father stood beside him, with a hand on his shoulder. The boy looked up at him with absolute trust in his eyes. Then the boy grew up again and swam in his blue swimsuit with water-wings while his father watched over him.

 **"The real memory might seem better, but what if we don't survive to learn our lesson?"** asked the voice.

The boy in the blue swimsuit swam past another boy in a red swimsuit, who floated facedown in the pool. Unmoving.

 **"Isn't a false memory safer than an actual experience?"** mused the voice.

"Shut up, Jon Hamm!" yelled Lenny.

 **"Or do we have to risk letting people make fatal mistakes?"** asked Jon Hamm.

The boy in the red swimsuit sank under the surface, but the boy in the blue swimsuit swam on. The father stood nearby with his hands on his hips.

"Lenny!" David said, like he had been repeating it.

"Huh?" Lenny asked. She looked behind him. There was a giant pink sink plug on a chain at the bottom of small natural pool. A spring was feeding into the pool, and it was filling up and overflowing now that its drain was stopped up.

"We need to get up on the dais, the cave is going to fill up with water," David explained with his hands on his hips.

Lenny looked around them. They were indeed in a cave.

David brushed past her and crunched across a rock garden which had swirls and spirals deliberately raked into it. He climbed the steps of a raised stone dais with pillars around it that reached up to the cave ceiling above them. Cary was already up there, chained to one of the pillars.

"Can I bring the parrot?" Lenny asked.

"Sure, whatever," David snapped.

Lenny adjusted the heavy parrot tucked under her arm, as she crunched across the soggy gravel. The rising water was messing up the rock patterns.

"We're losing the spirals," Lenny observed. "They were pretty."

"Nothing is forever," said David.


	7. After the Path

They were a strange looking group.

Melanie was their general, and she walked at the front. Syd was beside her. Her right-hand woman. Ptonomy and Rudy flanked them; Ptonomy with his Tommy gun and Rudy with his telekinesis.

Behind them walked three Vermillion. Confidently striding along the forest floor, despite their high-heeled boots and high centers of gravity. Their balance was even more admirable because of the fact that they were walking backwards.

The seven of them were in a rough circle. The circular shape was necessary for the front line, since they were all tethered to the center. Kerry Loudermilk marched in the center of the circle, wearing a heavy backpack of complex electronics. The pack had eight curly cords on it that connected to five sets of large headphones and three Vermillion.

Everyone except for Vermillion had to wear the headphones. The Vermillion were connected so they could communicate without attracting attention with their artificial musical voices.

It was part of Cary Loudermilk's plan, communicated to them through Kerry. He had told her about the invention in his lab and how to set it up. How they needed constant white noise in order to keep David's Pied Piper song from taking over their minds.

So they walked in a slight arc, keeping apart to keep their cords from tangling. Kerry looked like a spider in the center of a web, with tendrils reaching out to the edges of her trap.

Cary had also told them where David's Temple was. Deep in a forest, far from civilization. They had to leave their cars and equipment behind and march single-file down treacherous paths. It had been hard to keep their headphones firmly around their ears, but they had managed. Now the trees were more widely spaced, so they could spread out in a circle and move faster.

The sun had set hours ago, but a full moon still lit up the forest. Clouds drifted across the moon, but they only needed enough light to not trip. They had flashlights, but they were reluctant to use them anymore, since they were closer to the Temple now. Syd was able to keep them oriented with the tablet map Division Three had issued to her. She was the unofficial navigator, evidently.

"How you doing, kiddo?"

Syd looked around in surprise.

"To your left," the voice said.

Syd looked over to see Melanie smiling at her sadly.

"Don't worry, just you and me on the line." Melanie held up the control unit on her belt, which was wired to the headphones.

"I'm fine," Syd said into the microphone attached to her headphones. "I'm not sure how much I can help, but I'm fine."

"You're wrong," said Melanie. "You're not fine. David hurt you, and you blame yourself. I can still remember how the Shadow King manipulated you when he was speaking through me. I remember what you looked like. You blamed yourself."

Syd said nothing. She kept her eyes on the moonlit forest floor in front of her.

"It's not your fault," Melanie said.

"Yes, it is," Syd replied. "I should have seen it coming. I was the closest person to him. I should have seen the signs."

"Love is blind," Melanie told her, with a voice that betrayed how true she knew this to be. "Never apologize for believing the best of people. Your only sin is your belief that he could be a better version of himself."

Syd tugged at the hem of her long glove, making sure it was pulled up tight.

"And you're wrong about something else," Melanie continued. "There's a lot you can do to help. I brought you on this mission for a reason. David and you were connected, and you're still connected. We can use that."

"Someone approaches," announced a Vermillion in an emotionless autotune through their headphones.

They all crouched down behind some boulders, struggling to keep their headphones in place and untangled. The Vermillion wrapped their arms around their necks with inhuman stretchiness, hiding their glowing collars.

They squatted in nervous anticipation. Then a single man walked by calmly. He was heading in the same direction of them, but he was alone.

Just as he was passing by their boulders, he stopped. Syd concentrated on being quiet, hoping he hadn't spotted them.

Then the strangest thing happened. A wave seemed to pass through the man. He leaned backwards, then lunged forward, throwing his foot out to keep his balance. Then he stopped and continued on his way, walking as calmly as before.

Once he was out of sight, Syd commented on the shared radio line, "That was strange."

"You mean the lunging?" asked Melanie.

"No. Well, that was strange, but also, his eyes were closed," Syd explained. "But he never tripped."

Melanie paused, but evidently couldn't come up with an explanation. "Let's keep moving," she ordered.

They kept moving, but as they got closer to their destination, the trees and boulders got more scarce, and they spotted more and more people walking in the same direction. They tested Syd's observation and found that the other people just ignored them. Hiding every time they saw someone would slow them down too much, so they decided to just keep walking but keep out of everyone's way.

Suddenly, the ground fell away from them, and they looked down into a small circular valley to see a beautiful temple sitting in a square of pure silver moonlight. Above them, a perfect empty square hole was cut into the cloud cover, preventing anything from shrouding the temple in shadow.

Syd checked her map. This was the location Cary had told them, through Kerry. But there were no structures listed on the map for miles.

"Why isn't it on the map?" Syd asked.

"Maybe because David built it," Melanie suggested.


	8. After the Valley

There were hundreds of people, all making their way to the Temple. People were arriving from all directions, and they were lining up at the corners of the Temple, waiting their turn to join the strange rotating mass of people who surrounded the building.

Syd and the Team were crouched just over the edge of the valley, hiding from any sentries below. They were in a slight indentation, under the shadow of one of the few trees around them. It wasn't great cover, and there were numerous people who wandered past them, but so far, everyone was ignoring them.

One of the Vermillion was peering over the edge of the valley, relaying what it saw back through Kerry's cords into Syd's tablet. Everyone hovered around it, puzzled by the strange organized movement of the people below. No one seemed to be organizing them, but everyone knew exactly where to go.

Every minute or so, the people at the back of the line leaned back, then lunged forward. The people in front of them did the same thing, starting a fraction of a second later. The effect looked like a reverse ripple, starting at the outer edge and rushing along the spiralling lines of people until it disappeared under the roof of the square temple.

Ptonomy held the tablet and examined it closely. With a perfect memory, he was the best one to interpret the data.

He summarized as they listened through their headphones, "They're walking around the outside seven times, circling closer each time. Then they enter the square breezeway which runs around the whole perimeter. It's harder to see them once they're out of the moonlight, but they seem to be circling seven times again. People keep joining in, but no one seems to be leaving or coming back to the start. The central courtyard looks empty, so the people must be going somewhere. Maybe there's a second floor or something."

"They're just walking in a circle?" asked Kerry impatiently.

"It's like a religious rite, in Islam or Buddhism," Ptonomy explained. "Circumambulation. It's a way to worship something or someone."

"He thinks he's a god," Melanie observed sadly.

"Could you see David?" Syd asked.

"No, he's probably in the courtyard. It's partially blocked by the breezeway roof, but he would want to be at the center of the building," Ptonomy answered.

"We should get closer," Kerry said with determination.

"There's no hidden approach," Rudy pointed out. "No cover."

"Everyone we've seen has their eyes closed, and they're ignoring us. Maybe we can just walk up and go inside," Kerry said.

"That's as good a plan as any," Melanie decided. "But we stick together."

So they all stood up and formed their circle again, careful to organize their headphone cords. They walked down into the valley, and Syd couldn't help but peer back at Vermillion, who were walking backwards downhill in heels. As a woman, she could appreciate the feat.

They considered joining one of the lines, but as they got closer, the pilgrims stopped walking. A gap opened up on one side of the temple, and they realized there were stairs that led up to the main floor.

"It's a trap," Syd pointed out. "We should pull back."

"Cary said that David would think we were mind-controlled. David doesn't know we have the headphones to protect us," Kerry argued forcefully.

"Kerry's right," said Melanie. "We need to get in close before David realizes were not under his spell. Then Rudy can crown him."

Rudy pulled the neural suppressor out of his bag. The Shadow King had helped them improve it and make it strong enough to control David.

So they walked in formation up to the temple. There were seven steps, each wide enough for a line of people to walk along in single file. Evidently, they extended around the whole temple, but they had been covered in people until now.

As they went up the steps, Syd looked with pity at the brain-washed pilgrims. Their eyes were closed, but their bodies and clothes showed how they were from all walks of life. David had stolen their minds, but Syd was determined to rescue them. They deserved to choose their own path.

The Temple was made of white stone, and it glowed like silver in the light of full moon. Now that they were closer and the Temple was backed by the dark sky above, Syd looked up and saw that there were four white pillars, each of which extended out of one corner of the square temple. About halfway up, the pillars tilted towards the center and joined together high in the sky.

Cary had told Kerry something about a transmitter for David's psychic powers. Maybe the pillars sent out the signal that summoned all these innocent people.

The lines of pilgrims under the breezeways had also stopped and opened up a gap for the Team to go through. Syd noticed that the intersecting pillars were casting an X-shaped shadow on the floor of the pale empty courtyard.

Ptonomy had his Tommy gun raised, and Rudy's hands were pointed out, ready for any approaching danger. Melanie and Syd both had stun guns. Neither of them felt comfortable carrying lethal weapons. With the Vermillion walking backwards behind them, they were ready for any threat that came at them.

"Where is he?" hissed Ptonomy. "Does anyone see him?"

Syd looked around desperately. The courtyard didn't have anything in it. Nothing for David to hide behind. The breezeway was a single story, and they had seen the empty roof as they approached, so no one was above them. Syd scanned the faces of the pilgrims. Was David hiding among them?

Syd was focused so much on what was outside the group that she barely noticed that something had changed behind her.

With her power, it felt extremely uncomfortable to be close to other people. Even holding hands with gloves on made her skin crawl. She had gotten used to it over the years, but she had been aware of Kerry standing behind her this whole trip. And now Kerry was gone.

Syd looked over her shoulder, fearing the worst. But Kerry was still there and not hurt. She was just farther away. Kerry had taken the backpack off, which Syd thought was a good move. They could hold position, tethered to the backpack by the headphone cords, and defend themselves, while keeping Kerry on the front lines.

But something was wrong. It took Syd a second to figure out what it was. Kerry wasn't wearing her headphones anymore. Pink earplugs were visible in her ears, but those weren't supposed to be enough.

Also, Kerry wasn't walking towards a gap in their circle. She was walking directly towards Rudy. Sneaking up on him.

"Rudy!" Syd yelled in warning and raised her stun gun.

But Rudy assumed she was warning him about an external threat, so he only turned to the side a bit. Syd shot at Kerry, but Kerry darted forward, right into Rudy. Syd's shot missed, and one of the Vermillion collapsed in a heap of sparks.

Syd pulled her headphones off desperately, but they were still close to her ears when a sudden piercing tone shot out from the headphones. The pain was overwhelming, and Syd threw the headphones away from her as she fell to her knees.

She clapped her hands over her pain-filled ears and felt something wet soak into her gloves. Blood. She looked over to see Melanie laying still on the ground with blood seeping out from under her headphones.

Syd had dropped her stun gun, but she didn't think she could aim it in her current state anyway. She looked back towards Kerry and saw her backlit with bright moonlight on the pale temple floor. Kerry was engaged in fierce hand-to-hand combat with the two remaining Vermillion. Syd had lost all hearing, so the fight was in total silence.

Even under the circumstances, Syd had to admit it was eerily beautiful.

Kerry's hair fanned out as she twisted and swooped. The two Vermillion were skilled fighters, but they had no grace, no instinct, no art. Their moves were too robotic and predictable.

Kerry seemed about to win, but then she tripped over one of the headphone cords. The Vermillion jumped on her, karate chopping all over her body. But Kerry slipped out from underneath them and somersaulted towards Ptonomy's prone form. When she stood up again, she was holding the Tommy gun.

Syd was suddenly worried for all the innocent bystanders who might get shot. But Kerry held the gun by the barrel and swung it like a baseball bat right into the head of the nearest Vermillion. Even with most of her hearing gone, Syd still heard the crack of impact. The Vermillion's neck tore open, revealing the metal workings underneath. Then it collapsed to the ground.

The last remaining Vermillion held one arm up to shield their face from the next blow. But Kerry was already working the backswing, twisting around in the opposite direction, dipping low this time to hit the Vermillion in the lower back.

Kerry yelled something down at the fallen robot, but Syd couldn't hear it. Kerry kicked at the Vermillion Syd had shot, making sure it was down.

Then Kerry hit herself with the Tommy gun.

She looked down at it in shock, then charged angrily over at Rudy. One of his hands was up, wavering unsteadily as he tried to lock onto the Tommy gun again. But it was moving too rapidly in Kerry's hands as she smashed the gun down on his skull.

Kerry stood back and looked over her fallen comrades and saw Syd still kneeling nearby. She strode over to her, and Syd looked up in terror. "Please," she tried to say, but she couldn't hear her own voice. Her muddled brain wondered if she had gone mute, not just deaf.

Kerry stood over her, and her determination wavered for a second. But she was too far gone. She said, "I'm sorry," but Syd was barely able to lipread the words. Then Kerry kicked her in the face, and everything went dark.


	9. After the Pattern

Syd was in an empty white space. For a second, she thought it was the White Room that David made for the two of them. But there wasn't any furniture, and she couldn't see any walls.

In the white space in front of Syd, a young girl in a flowered dress was walking down a sidewalk.

Suddenly, a disembodied voice began to narrate, **"Let me tell you a story about a girl and a boy."**

Syd looked around in confusion, but there was no one around but the girl in the flowered dress.

"Are you talking to me?" asked Syd, looking around in confusion.

 **"One day, the girl accidentally stepped on a crack,"** said the voice, ignoring Syd completely.

The girl stepped on a jagged crack in the sidewalk, but she immediately pulled her foot back, like she was scared she had done something wrong.

 **"A second later, something terrible happened."**

Syd hurt a disgusting squishing sound, and she whirled around to see a car had just run over a cat. The car didn't even stop. It just kept going, leaving the mangled bloody mass of fur in the middle of the street.

Syd turned back to the girl and saw an expression of horror and supreme sadness on the girl's face.

 **"From that day forward, the girl believed that stepping on cracks made bad things happen. She never stepped on a crack again, and she always felt guilty for killing that innocent cat."**

Syd reached out to comfort the girl. She was wearing gloves, and she was willing to ignore the uneasy feeling of physical contact in order to help the girl realize it wasn't her fault.

But the little girl and the sidewalk disappeared. Syd turned around, and the car and dead cat were gone as well. In their place was a high school boy, sitting on a threadbare couch in front of a wood-paneled television.

 **"One day, the boy was watching his favorite football team, while wearing the team jersey."**

Syd walked over to look at the boy, but he completely ignored her. Suddenly, he stood up and cheered.

 **"When his team won, he assumed it was because he wore that shirt. From that day forward, he always wore his lucky shirt on game day, and he was always proud of helping his team win."**

Syd blinked, and the boy and the couch and the tv were gone.

 **"Years later, the girl and the boy got married. They bought a white house with a white picket fence. But even with a pretty white shell, an egg can still hatch into something truly vile."**

A different couch and a different tv appeared, and on the couch was a grown-up version of the boy. Still wearing his lucky shirt, but now it was thin and it fit tightly over his beer gut. On the tv, his team fumbled the ball, and he angrily picked at the peeling team logo on the front of his shirt.

Syd walked over to the kitchen, which was just a set of linoleum counters in the vast white space. The girl was grown up now, but she still wore a flowered dress. She was careful to not step on the cracks in the kitchen floor.

 **"Abusive relationships have a pattern. The victim performs an action."**

The timid wife served a plate of food to her husband, who barely looked away from his game. Syd followed behind.

 **"There is a consequence after the action."**

The husband took a bite, then spat it out in disgust. He stood up and backhanded his wife across the face.

 **"The victim assumes their action caused the consequence."**

The wife scurried to back to the kitchen to try again.

 **"The victim believes that if they just performed the action correctly, there wouldn't be consequences."**

The wife tearfully began chopping carrots.

 **"And this is the ultimate pain of abuse. The victims believe they are to blame."**

In the kitchen, the wife cut a new thin line on her wrist with the knife, adding to a long line of tally-mark scars on her forearm. She rinsed the cut and the knife, then pulled her sleeve down again and continued cooking.

Syd pulled her long glove up self-consciously.

 **"And that is how our story ends. The boy grew up to believe he could control everything, and he got mad when things didn't happen the way he wanted. The girl grew up to believe that everything bad that happened was her fault.**

 **"But both of them were wrong. Neither of them controlled everything, and neither of them controlled nothing. The one who felt the most guilt was blameless, and the one who felt the least guilt was the most to blame."**

Syd muttered to herself, "I think that was Jon Hamm."


	10. After the Flood

Cary looked over his shoulder tentatively, but nothing had changed. David was sitting in the middle of the raised dais with his eyes closed and his legs in the lotus position.

Well, sitting wasn't quite the right word, since he was floating a few feet above the ground. His long coat hung below him, billowing gently in the cold breezes of the cave.

Behind David, Lenny lay sprawled out on her back, high as a kite. The parrot vaporizer was right next to her head, puffing blue smoke for her to inhale.

Cary turned away with a sigh. He was worried. The cave didn't have any sources of light, but there was a spiral staircase in each corner, and the walls of the cave were polished like mirrors. Enough moonlight reflected down that he could mostly see what was going on.

He could see everything that was going wrong.

More and more people were entering the cave, coming down the spiral staircases and humming along to some eerie song. It reminded Cary of when the Monk invaded Division 3 and all the children followed him after he began to sing his song.

David was like the Pied Piper, and his listeners would follow him even if he led them off a cliff.

Cary watched the dim figures at the edge of the cave walk in circles. Then they would finish and turn and wade into the water which was slowly filling up the cave. The Pool was pretty shallow at the edges, but then people slowly waded and floated towards the center. They joined hands and formed a lotus-like pattern in the water.

The dais was at the lowest part of the cave, so the water was deepest at the bottom of its steps. The dais reminded Cary of the gazebo in a church garden near where they grew up. He and Kerry would play hide-and-go-seek, and the gazebo was always base. They couldn't play tag, since Kerry was so much faster than him, even with their age difference, so it wasn't much of a game if she always won. Even at hide-and-go-seek, Kerry had the advantage because she was willing to climb and crawl and get dirty. But he could beat her sometimes.

The dais and the gazebo were both made of stone, were circular, and had columns around the edge of the top level. Cary's hands were cuffed around one of the columns, forcing him to sit on the top step and not interfere.

Of course, even if he wasn't chained in place, he didn't think he could save anyone. The humming probably meant they were fully under David's Sway. They even did a strange swaying motion every minute or so, leaning back and lunging forward. Cary wasn't sure if it was caused by David's telepathy or his telekinesis because the water seemed to also Sway. A deep ripple would start at the edge of the Pool and would spiral in towards the center, crashing against the steps of the dais like a wave on a beach.

Each time the Sway wave would roll in, it would splash slightly higher. The recent one had splashed up onto Cary's pants, so he pulled his feet up to a higher step. He kept sitting there, being forced to hug the pillar. He sat still and hunched over, trying to take up as little space as possible.

He wished Kerry was there. She would know what to do, how to fight. She could save everyone.

Before they drowned.

◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆

Kerry stood on the edge of the Pool, careful to not let her feet touch the water. When David gave her his instructions, he had warned her to not touch the water. She was between two pillars, part of a line of pillars which ran around the edge of the square cave and formed an arcade with a white tile floor. Lines of people with their eyes closed were humming and walking around the arcade, then wading into the dark water to join the other hummers in the water.

She watched as some of David's pilgrims carried the unconscious members of her Team out to one of the boulders which stuck out of the surface of the water like tiny islands. The pilgrims made sure to not let any of the Team members touch the waters of the Pool, but once they were on the boulder, they couldn't get off without touching the water and entering David's mind.

Kerry chewed at her fingernails. Cary hated it when she did that, since he would inherit the mangled nails when they melded again, but she couldn't help it.

She was afraid. Damn it, where was Cary?

Her eyes began to adjust to the darkness, and she could make out a structure in the middle of the Pool that looked like a gazebo they used to play in when they were little. She made sure to let Cary win sometimes, so the game was still fun.

There was movement on the gazebo thing, and she saw two people standing up. Then one of them waded into the water and began to move towards her. Whoever it was had something white around their neck. Kerry leaned forward over the water, straining to make out who it was without stepping into the water. She gasped when she recognized Cary.

He was awkwardly wading through the thigh-deep water, going past the boulder where the Team was now imprisoned. Cary stopped and looked over at them.

"Don't let the water touch you, and don't hum along. Don't let him get in your head," Cary warned them.

Evidently, some of them were waking up. David had assured her that the harsh tone from the headphones wouldn't do any serious damage. She hoped he'd been telling the truth.

"Cary!" Kerry called.

Cary looked at her, then his shoulders sagged in relief as he recognized his other half. "Kerry," he said in a choked voice.

Then he splashed out of the pool awkwardly, lifting his feet up high to get them above the water. She saw how wet his clothes were. She knew how much he hated getting wet.

They embraced, and she melded into him. It felt so good. Like a warm bed after being outside on a winter day. Like a breath of air after almost drowning. Like love.

But she had to protect him. She pushed out of him and turned around. "You should put these on," she said, and pressed her earplugs into his hand. She hadn't needed them underground, since the transmitter couldn't penetrate into the cave. But Cary would need them once they got outside.

"No, David gave me something to make me immune." Cary indicated a garland of flowers around his neck. The white flowers practically glowed in the dim moonlight. "That's how I was able to wade through the water." He gestured over his shoulder at the Pool.

Behind Cary, Kerry could see their friends stranded on a boulder, imprisoned by a madman deep in his evil lair. A pang of guilt ran through her, so she slipped inside Cary so she wouldn't have to look at them.

"Okay," she said from inside Cary's head. "Let's go."


	11. After the Wolf

Syd woke up somewhere dark and damp. Even the air tasted wet. She pushed herself up into a seated position and saw Melanie sitting next to her. Syd was thankful Melanie wasn't trying to touch her or help her sit up.

Syd pulled her long red coat tightly around herself, then she gingerly touched her forehead, feeling a slight bump where Kerry had kicked her. She had a slight headache from the kick, and there was a ringing in her ears from the ear piercing sound from the headphones which knocked everyone out.

But there was something else, and it didn't seem to be coming from her. Like the air itself was vibrating. Then she realized it was actually the sound of hundreds of people humming. She felt a sudden desire to hum along, but then Melanie said, "Don't. Don't hum."

"Why not?" Syd asked.

"You'll enter his mind," Melanie explained. "Everyone else is already under his Sway."

Just as she said this, a ripple ran through the crowd of David's followers. The water did its own version of the Sway.

Syd looked the other way and saw Ptonomy cradling a still unconscious Rudy in his arms. Rudy had blood on his forehead from where Kerry had cracked the Tommy gun over his head.

Ptonomy was crying and rocking back and forth slightly. "It's gonna be okay, baby," he whispered to the unmoving Rudy.

Another wave of the Sway ran through the crowd, which Syd now realized surrounded them, both in the water and around the edges of the cave. They must be under the Temple, she realized.

"And don't touch the water," Melanie added. "Cary said it's how David gets inside our heads."

The Sway moved in a specific direction, culminating in the center of the Pool. Syd looked over at the dim pale columns which stood many meters away. She could barely make out all the people in the water, keeping their heads just above the surface.

"He's going to kill them, isn't he?" Syd asked Melanie.

Melanie looked over at her with sad silence.

"It has to be me," Syd realized reluctantly.

It wasn't a question, but Melanie nodded anyway.

Syd scooted over to sit on the edge of the boulder. The water was only a foot or so down, but its inky blackness was terrifying. She pulled her hood up, like that would protect her.

"Wait," said Melanie.

Syd looked at her to see that Melanie had crossed her arms across her chest and put each hand on the opposite shoulder.

"Do like this," instructed Melanie.

So Syd put each of her gloved hands on her own shoulders. It felt like Melanie was hugging her, even though they weren't touching.

Melanie told her, "When Oliver was in the Astral Plane, he eventually forgot about me. But David isn't that far gone. You were connected to him, and you can use that connection right now.

"I know he hurt you, and I know you blame yourself for letting yourself get hurt, but none of that matters right now. What matters is all of these innocent people who don't deserve what's happening to them. You are their best hope of being saved. You're here for a reason, and you're able to do this."

"Let go of your guilt, let go of your past, let go of everything but the here and now."

Melanie gripped her own shoulders fiercely and shook them, and Syd mirrored the motion. It felt like Melanie was pushing strength and courage directly into her soul.

"Now go," ordered Melanie, and Syd realized she had never had someone believe in her this strongly in her entire life. She suddenly felt like she could slay a dragon.

She jumped into the cold murky water, and her red coat floated out behind her like a superhero's cape.

◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆

Syd walked through a bright sunny meadow, filled with fluttering butterflies and colorful wildflowers. Birds sang from the surrounding trees, and a blue sky stretched clear and vivid over her head. Snow-capped mountains were in the distance, but the sun was warm in the meadow.

Behind her, there was a cheery checkered picnic blanket. Melanie, Ptonomy and Rudy were crouched on it fearfully.

In the middle of the meadow was a white gazebo, and Syd knew that was where David was, so that was where she was going.

As she walked, she saw various people sitting in the lotus position, half-hidden by the meadow grass. Their eyes were closed, and they were humming that same damn song. They were all dressed in white tunics, and their hair floated lazily in the breeze, like they were underwater.

Every minute or so, the grass would suddenly dip at the edge of the meadow, and a ripple would pass through the grass, spiralling in towards the gazebo. The meditators would follow suit and lean and lunge in time to the ripple. Even on the Astral Plane, the Sway remained.

Syd slowed down as she approached the gazebo, and as she climbed the steps carefully, David floated down from his levitating meditation and sat down on the floor of the gazebo.

Syd had half-expected him to have decked himself out like an Indian Raj, but instead, he was wearing a t-shirt with a series of thin concentric circles. Behind him, Lenny was draped over the gazebo floor like a limp rug, and a live parrot was perched next to her, stretching its beautiful green wings.

"Isn't it beautiful?" asked David, looking out at the meadow.

Syd sat down in front of him and pulled her hood down.

"I based it on a meadow I used to play in with Amy," David explained excitedly. "Or maybe I just imagined it. We didn't grow up near mountains, but I distinctly remember mountains in the distance. Isn't - "

"I didn't come here to talk about mountains," Syd interrupted.

David looked annoyed, but he quickly recovered. He stared at her seriously. "I still haven't forgiven you for what you did in the desert, but I am sorry for misleading you and for messing with your memories. I figure I at least owe you an audience."

"David, why are you doing this?" Syd asked.

He perked up at this question. Like a childish Bond villain who finally has a chance to show off his plan.

"I've finally found a place where I can rule. Be the Creator," he said, speaking a little too quickly. "Oliver's mistake was going there alone. He didn't understand that there's no point in ruling, if there's no one to rule over.

"So, I'm building a kingdom where I'm in control. Where I can give people the life they deserve to live.

"I will be their king, and they will love me!" David finished with a manic grin.

"You can't force people to love you," Syd told him.

"I didn't force anyone to follow me," David insisted. "My followers are the lonely outcasts of this world. I just sent out my song, and they were the ones who decided to sing along!"

"More like hum along," corrected Lenny.

David tilted his head in her direction, and the parrot pecked her on the head. Lenny squawked in pain.

"You're deluded," Syd informed him.

David's eyes flashed in anger, but he let her speak.

Syd leaned forward. "These people can't leave once they've arrived. Even if they came here willingly, even enthusiastically, they need to always have to option to change their minds. If you hug something too tightly, you end up suffocating it to death. If you squeeze a bar of soap, it shoots right out of your hand."

"Soap!" Lenny exclaimed.

Syd didn't take her eyes off David, but she heard Lenny get pecked and squawk again.

"This isn't love, David. This is delusion," Syd told him quietly.

David was mad now. "Do you even remember what you did to me in the desert?"

Syd forced herself to remain calm. "I don't remember. You stole that memory from me."

David ignored her. "You tried to kill me, Syd. The Shadow King talked to you for a few minutes and showed you a few things out of context, and you threw away all our history and all our future and tried to kill me!"

Syd was shaken by this revelation. What could have made her do something that drastic? Then she realized the answer was right in front of her. "Maybe I was worried you might abuse your power. That you might decide that you have the right to control what other people think. That you might hurt people."

"I'm not a parrot!" yelled Lenny suddenly, but they both ignored her.

"Maybe I saw who you might become," Syd concluded.

"Oh, so I'm on trial for crimes I haven't even committed yet?" David asked incredulously.

"I always worried that if you went through another loss, like if something happened to me or if we broke up, that you would hurt a lot of people. I realized I couldn't let my selfish love for you be more important than all the other people in the world."

David was barely listening to her. "Do you know what it was like? To have the people I fought to save, the people I trust most, to have them lock me in a cage and tell me I was the real enemy?"

Syd needed to get his attention back. "The first thing you did upon escaping was do the very thing we were terrified you would do. You're not helping your case here, David."

David was focused on her again, but he was mad. "You're the reason I'm doing this. Don't you get it? You tried to stop me, but that just made me want this even more. I'm going to leave you behind, you won't get to come to my kingdom with me."

Syd heard a strained gasp, and she looked over to see David's followers were all sitting up straight with their heads tilted back. Their chests heaved, trying to breathe, but then they relaxed again. She realized the most recent ripple of the Sway had crashed over their heads.

They didn't have much time. The water was rising.

But David ignored them. His eyes were bright with madness, and he grinned at her with all his teeth. "I want you to know for the rest of your life that this was your fault!"

"No," said Syd with steel in her voice. "This is your fault."


	12. After the Rift

"So, what's the plan?" Cary asked in a low whisper.

His shoes were still sloshing with water from the cave pool, and he was struggling to walk up the sandy slope of the valley.

"You know David can't hear us, right?" he continued. "The garland protects us, keeps him out of our head."

Cary played with the flowery garland around his neck. He could tell his fingernails were shorter and rougher. Kerry must have been chewing on them.

"So, tell me the plan!" he demanded eagerly.

Cary had reached the lip of the valley and was near the tree that the Team had hidden under earlier.

Suddenly, he stopped and contorted his body. Kerry was pushed out onto the ground, and she stumbled in surprise. He had never pushed her out of him before. Cary looped the garland around her neck too and gripped her urgently by the shoulders.

His eyes were fierce and fearful in the harsh moonlight. "So the plan is to rescue me at all costs and leave everyone else to die? Tell me I'm wrong, Kerry. Tell me I'm wrong!"

Kerry just stared back at him with tears in her eyes. "I didn't have a choice!" she told him.

Cary didn't want to believe it. "Didn't you get the message I added to your head? Of how to stop David from ascending?"

Kerry couldn't look him in the eyes anymore, and they needed to get as far away from the Temple as possible. She grabbed him by the shoulder and frog-marched him towards the forest. "I got your message, but it was too risky. I couldn't risk losing you," she explained.

"You'll lose me anyway, if you keep running away." Cary tried to slip the garland off his neck.

"Cary, no!" Kerry yelled. She desperately wrenched both his arms behind him and kept pushing him towards the forest. She would do _anything_ to keep him safe.

Cary knew he couldn't fight her. But he also knew her weakness: him.

"Being inside David's head taught me a lot," he told her. "I'm used to having you in my mind, but David connected me to so many others. It's always been you and me, me and you."

Cary dug his heels in. "We need to be more than just you and me."

Kerry spun him around so they were face-to-face again. Then she delivered a swift uppercut to his chin and knocked him unconscious.

She dragged him over to the same tree the Team had been under. She could still see their footprints in the soft ground.

She took the belt of her coat and tied it around Cary's wrists, securing him to the tree. He could work his way free after he woke up, but she just needed to delay him. The hard decision was the garland. Only one of them could wear it and be hidden from David's Sway.

She took the garland off his neck, severing their last connection. She breathed deep, preparing herself to go back into the lion's den. She knew if she didn't at least _try_ to save everyone, then Cary would never forgive her.

She stroked his hair. At least now, one of them would survive.


	13. After the Battle

Melanie stood, trying to take up as little space as possible on the boulder. She was using her feet to brace Rudy's legs, keeping him out of the water. Ptonomy was cradling his boyfriend's head and shoulders.

Rudy's eyes were open, and he was looking at Ptonomy. But Rudy wasn't saying anything. Ptonomy kept talking to him quietly, urging him to speak and telling him everything would be all right.

But the water was rising. Creeping up the edges of their boulder. Shrinking the precious dry rock they had left.

David's followers were barely keeping their heads above water. Every time the Sway rolled through the water, the wave splashed over some of their heads. Pretty soon, they would all drown. Including David and everyone on the Team.

Melanie never had kids of her own, so she had quasi-adopted almost everyone at Summerland. She loved being a mentor and helping young people learn how their weaknesses are actually strengths. She loved watching them discover their identity.

But now everything was falling apart. David had taken her lessons too far. Melanie had been so focused on him that she had forgotten about everyone else.

However, David wasn't the only person with power. Melanie had faith in her other kids, and she believed they could bring him down. Which was good.

Because she didn't want to watch her kids die.

◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆

Kerry waded into the cold water of the cave pool. David's followers were all around her, but they were in a deep trance and barely noticed her.

She could feel the loose gravel under her boot heels. As soon as it was deep enough, she crouched down low and started to half-swim. Her leather coat and hair and even the garland of flowers floated around her. Until the water soaked into them, and they sank below the surface.

She half-swam and half-waded, pushing off the gravel and weaving her way around the followers who were humming and swaying. As she got farther into the pool, it got deeper.

She moved off to the side, reaching a place near the wall. David's followers were walking along the edge of the wall, but there was a burbling spring spilling into the pool. This was the spot Cary had told her about back in the White Room. He had been inside David's head, and he knew what his plan was, and he knew how to stop it.

This was the deepest part of the Pool, and none of the followers were near it. Kerry ducked down beneath the surface and was surprised at how much louder the followers' humming was underwater. She ignored it and swam down deeper until she found the huge pink sink plug that was preventing the water from draining out.

There was a lot of water pressing down on the sink plug, but Kerry was strong enough to pull it free. But Cary had told her that David could just put it back in place telekinetically, and the cave would continue to flood. The water was the conduit which fully connected David to his followers and made him so powerful.

To really stop David, they had to make the drain even bigger. Kerry swam back to the surface. As soon as her head broke the surface, she dug around in her pockets for the two things Cary had told her to bring.

She hadn't planned on using them, since her plan was to grab Cary and run. But she still brought them, for some reason.

She found the lighter and held it up. It was waterproof, and when she lit it, the flame reflected on the smooth surface of the undulating water.

Then she found the second item. She held it up to her face, making sure it was still intact.

A single stick of dynamite.

◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆

"This isn't my fault," David spat at Syd. "I'm the _real_ victim here. Everyone keeps trying to lock me up, to control me, to convince me I'm the bad guy. But now I'm finally fighting back."

Storm clouds gathered at the horizon, and lightning began to strike on the distant mountain tops. Syd felt a cold breeze in the gazebo.

"We're going to ascend," David explained in a manic voice. "The water, it amplifies my mind. My followers will drown in the water which binds us all together. We're all in the same rhythm, the same Sway."

Syd could see the grass growing higher, snaking and spilling itself up the steps of the gazebo. David's followers were sitting up straight with just their heads above the meadow grass.

Syd forced herself to stay still and not provoke David anymore. "You're right, it _is_ my fault. I'm sorry."

David's manic eyes calmed down a bit. He liked hearing her apology.

Syd continued, "So blame _me_. Punish _me_. Don't take your anger out on these innocent people."

◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆

Melanie was watching Syd talk with David on the raised dais in the center of the pool. She couldn't hear what they were saying because the followers were humming so loudly.

Behind her, Ptonomy said mournfully, "I remember everything, no matter how long ago or how badly I want to forget. You told me it was a gift, but it's not. It's a curse."

Melanie just let him talk.

Ptonomy continued, "What if Rudy dies? I'll spend the rest of my life with beautiful memories of a man who isn't here anymore. Everything I see will remind me of him, and the memories will never fade, never get any less painful."

Another wave rippled through the Pool, and it splashed a little bit higher on their boulder. Melanie and Ptonomy shifted back, out of reach.

The water was rising. Melanie still watched Syd.

Ptonomy was almost crying. "The boulder isn't big enough. We won't all make it."

"Syd can do this," Melanie said firmly.

Ptonomy whispered to Rudy, "I love you." Then Ptonomy started to hum.

Melanie heard him, and she turned around and tried to grab him. But it was too late. He was already in the water, joining the followers.

Melanie did the only thing she could do. She sat down and held Rudy, protecting him from the rising waters.

◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆

Kerry had to light the dynamite above the water. The lighter wouldn't spark underwater. The fuse hissed as it was lit, and she knew she only had one shot at this.

She swam down to where she had felt a good crack near the sink plug, but when she tried to press the dynamite into place, it didn't fit. She floundered around, searching for a better spot.

All around her, the humming of the followers was growing louder and more intense. She had to save these people. What was the point in living if Cary would never forgive her?

She wished she had his moral compass, but maybe that was the point. Maybe he had been born with the scientific mind and the moral compass, and she had been born with fighting skills and aggression. Brains versus brawn. Love versus hate.

Two sides of the same coin, destined to forever split apart and reunite.

Neither of them was a whole person, but together, they were something greater than a single individual could ever be.

Bright lights flashed at the edges of her vision, begging her to go back up for air. Then she finally found a perfect crack in the rock.

She pushed the dynamite into place and swam for the surface. She had to get back to Cary. They needed to be together again.

Behind her, the dynamite exploded, and the water rushed down into the huge gaping hole. Kerry was pulled backwards and sucked into the drain.


	14. After the Crash

"I'm sorry," Syd repeated to David.

The storm clouds were clearing up, and David's anger seemed to be subsiding. Syd breathed in relief.

Suddenly, there was an explosion and a splash of water at the side of the meadow. David's illusion flickered for a moment, and Syd saw the cave water begin to swirl and rush down the new opening. Then the meadow was back, but the sky was dark with storm clouds.

"No," David yelled. "No, it can't...I need…"

He panted angrily and a dangerous panic took over his body. He covered his head with his claw-like hands, then he glared up at Syd from behind his shaggy hair.

"You did this on purpose," David growled. "You delayed me, so someone else could sneak in and sabotage my Ascension!"

Bright lightning flashed in the stormy skies, and thunder shook the ground. The meadow grass was flattened by the constant swirling gale centered around the gazebo.

The forest around them turned black, and tree limbs reached out like emaciated grasping hands. The limbs pushed his followers forward, holding their heads below the sinking grass.

"Why are you so convinced people will leave you if you give them the option to leave?" Syd asked desperately. "If they truly love you and want to be with you, they will find their way back to you. You should let everyone go."

She knew she would never go back to David, if she had any choice in the matter. But she needed to give him hope. She was worried about lying to a psychic, but she knew David desperately wanted this to be true, so maybe he would believe the beautiful lie.

"I don't want to be alone," David explained angrily. Then his face softened, and she caught a glimpse of the sweet boy she fell in love with. "But if you come with me, I won't be alone."

Syd realized David was calling her bluff. He was making her choose between herself and everyone else.

Syd looked around at all the meditators in the meadow. The ones nearby had their heads tilted back and were sitting up straight, trying to keep their heads above water and keep breathing.

Farther away, the Team crouched on the shrinking picnic blanket. Melanie was working hard to keep Rudy's body from touching the writhing grass, and Ptonomy was gone. Syd tried not to think about why.

She thought back to what Melanie had told her earlier. That she was here for a reason. That she could save everyone.

Syd looked back at David. She pulled her long opera glove off and held her hand out to him.

Suddenly, Lenny yelled, "I _am_ a good person!" at the squirming parrot clutched in her hands. Lenny threw the parrot out over the meadow, where it squawked and tried to fly awkwardly.

David turned his head to around look at the parrot and jerked his head to the side. The parrot fell silent and stopped flying. Its head was turned at a weird angle as it fell into the swaying grass of the meadow.

He heard a thump, and he whipped his head back around to see Lenny sprawled out against one of the pillars behind Syd. Lenny must have tried to tackle Syd but missed and slammed into a pillar. David would have smirked, but he was in a hurry. Syd was still sitting, but she was turned around, staring at Lenny.

"Syd, let's go," David said.

Syd looked back at him in confusion, then she looked down at her ungloved hand. Then she nodded and held her hand out to him again.

"Wait," said Lenny groggily, but they both ignored her. David reached out and grasped Syd's hand.

A shockwave shot out from the gazebo, sending a rolling wave through the grass out to the edges of meadow. The Sway in reverse.

◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆

Ptonomy opened his eyes in confusion. He had been in a sunny meadow, then a storm had come out of nowhere. The grass grew tall, and he couldn't breathe when he was buried in it.

Now he was in a dark cold place laying on soggy gravel. He wanted the meadow back. He felt safe there. Happy. Or some kind of happy. He was supposed to be happy. Someone told him to be happy.

He clawed at the gravel, wanting the dream back. Or wanting to escape it. He didn't know.

"My love," he heard someone say. Ptonomy looked over to see a man sitting on a boulder looking down at him. The light was dim, so it was hard to see who he was.

"My love," the man repeated. "Let's go home."

"Rudy," Ptonomy said, finally remembering who he was and what he really wanted. Who he wanted.

An older woman with blonde hair stood over him. Her boots were sinking into the wet ground. "You two, get out of here."

So Ptonomy pulled himself to his feet, then walked over to Rudy. They held onto each other for support while they made their way to the exit. They were both broken and confused, but together, they could make sense of the world.

Melanie stayed behind and made her way to the center of the cave. She had to wade through the sea of David's confused followers, waking up from their blissful nightmare.

Some were relieved to be released. They sat down in shock and breathed deeply, trying to catch their breath after almost drowning. A couple crawled backwards like crabs towards the edges of the cave, reluctant to turn their backs on the central dais.

But others were devastated that they had been left behind. They grasped at the wet gravel and continued to hum, hoping to reconnect with David's mind. They threw themselves at the steps of the stone dais, weeping and asked, "Why did you leave me? Take me with you, please, take me with you. I don't want to be alone again!"

And a few clung to each other, finally finding solidarity with other people through shared suffering.

Melanie felt pity for them, but there was something else she needed to do. In the dim light, she could see someone laying on top of the dais. Melanie climbed up the wet steps and crouched over the limp body, careful to not touch it with her bare skin. But it was only Lenny.

Syd was gone.


	15. Two-Spirit

After the forge, the sword is sharper.  
After the break, the bone is harder.

After the fight, the knight is mighty.  
After the night, the light is brighter.

After the fracture, the bond is stronger.

Melanie sat on floor of the stone dais. The steps were still wet from the water, and Lenny was leaning against one of the pillars.

"What happened?" Melanie asked.

"Hand me that," Lenny asked.

Melanie grabbed a thin strip of colorful fabric from the floor of the gazebo. She handed it to Lenny, who held it tight with both hands.

"When we at Clockworks, we had to use this," Lenny explained. "We each held one end, and it was like we were touching. Connected."

Melanie stared at her incredulously. "Syd?" she asked.

The girl nodded, and Melanie hugged her fiercely.

When Syd was in another person's body, she could touch people. Melanie took advantage of the chance to hug her surrogate daughter.

"Lenny saved me," Syd explained. "When David wasn't looking, she touched me, and we switched places. David thought she was me, and he took her with him to the world he was building in the Astral Plane."

Melanie kept her hand on Syd's arm, but said nothing.

Syd looked down at the fabric she was clutching. Even in the dim cave, the fabric's bright color could be seen. "I had no idea David still had this. That he still believed we could …"

Suddenly, Syd scrunched the fabric up into a ball and threw it across the cave in disgust. It landed in the last dregs of draining water, which pulled the fabric down the gaping hole in the rock.

"Come on, Melanie." Syd stood up and dusted off her hands. "Let's help these people get home."

Syd stepped off the dais, and Melanie followed behind her.

◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆

Dawn was breaking when Cary woke up. The morning sun was peeking over the distant trees, and rays of light were hitting the edge of the valley.

Cary touched his chin gingerly and winced when he touched his bruise. He also had a headache, but it wasn't too bad.

"Kerry?" he called out instinctively, but there was no response.

He wiggled free from his bonds. He recognized it as Kerry's belt, so he kept it with him as he walked.

His memories were trickling back into his conscious mind, but his unconscious mind knew exactly where to go.

He was walking somewhere with purpose, but he didn't know where he was going or why. It was like the gentle tug of a current, slowly pushing him in a vague direction until he finally floated downstream.

He remembered what he had said to Kerry. How he had demanded she help the others. He had meant for the two of them to fight David together. He never meant for her to go into battle alone.

Tendrils of fog still clung to the feet of boulders and trees. The fog swirled as Cary hurried past.

He picked his way through some low brambles, then stumbled down a sandy bank. The bank was damp and slippery, like a lot of water had recently flooded over it. A piece of brightly-colored fabric was snagged on a bush.

At the bottom of the bank was a small rocky beach beside a stream. Kerry was laying there on her back. He grabbed her hand, but it was cold and wet. She wasn't breathing.

Cary dropped to his knees on the damp ground and called Kerry's name again and again, but she didn't respond. He had always worried that he would die before her, and the separation might kill her. But the thought of losing her and having to go on living by himself was just unthinkable.

He wasn't sure what would happen if she was dead and he tried to meld with her. He might die too. But he realized he didn't care. He laid down over her, and they formed together again.

Cary sighed deeply, letting the wave of their connection wash over him. Live or die, always together.

They had been broken apart and tested and tortured and had suffered alone. But now they were together again, and their bond was reforged into something stronger than before.

They gasped and breathed in deep and full. The bright light of the morning sky was above them. Their head hurt and their chest ached, and they coughed up water and fought to breathe.

They were alive. Or maybe dead. They weren't sure. They looked around and sat up and tried to figure it out.

But then they realized, they didn't give a flying fuck if they were in this world or the next.

As long as they were together.


End file.
